Mardi Gras - Throw Me Somethin' Mister
Mardi Gras is February 12, 2013
Parades in New Orleans Plantation Country
Krewe of Lul - Saturday, February 9 at noon in Luling
Krewe of Towapasah - Saturday, February 9 at 1pm in Reserve
Krewe du Monde Parade - Sunday, February 10 at noon in LaPlace
Krewe of Des Allemands - Sunday, February 10 at 1pm in Des Allemands
Krewe of Tomorrow - Tuesday, February 12 at 1:30 pm in Gramercy/Lutcher
Mardi Gras has been called The Greatest Free Party in the world, and we couldn’t agree more. Mardi Gras starts on King's Day and ends on Fat Tuesday which is the day before Ash Wednesday.
Just outside of New Orleans, we host family-friendly celebrations throughout the weekend before Fat Tuesday.
King Cake
A special oval-shaped cake made from twisted cinammon dough and decorated with Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold sugar, is known as a King Cake and often the centerpiece of Mardi Gras parties. Mardi Gras begins on the Epiphany, celebrating the arrival of the three kings at Jesus’ birthplace. A small, plastic baby, representing baby Jesus, is hidden inside the cake. It brings good luck to the person that receives it and tradition requires that person to provide the next King Cake.
There are many amazing varieties, many made with different types of cream-cheese or other filling, throughout New Orleans Plantation Country that can be shipped to you during carnival season, or if you want to try your hand at home, click here for a King Cake recipe.
History of Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans since the first French settlers arrived in the early 1700s, and explorer, Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d’Iberville named a spot just south of New Orleans along the Mississippi River Point du Mardi Gras on March 3, 1699.
Mardi Gras was celebrated in Europe long before Iberville’s journey into the New World, with some tracing its roots to ancient Roman pagan celebrations that were incorporated into the early Christian church. Carnival became a period of feasting and merriment that preceded a Lenten season of fasting and religious observance prior to Easter.
The first Mardi Gras celebrations were typically balls held in private homes, with parading not beginning until 1837. The first modern type of parade didn’t begin until the Mystik Krewe of Comus began in 1857. The Rex Parade in 1872 gave Mardi Gras its official colors; purple, representing justice; green, representing faith; and gold, representing power.
Today’s Mardi Gras continues to bring forth the merriment and revelry of any in history, with more parades taking place throughout Louisiana each year. Come make history for yourself at a New Orleans Plantation Country parade!
